• Nvidia to publish open source version of Quake II RTX

  HEXUS shared the Quake II RTX video as an appendage to the news about real-time raytracing coming to the GTX 1060 or higher, back in March, during the GTC 2019 event. In brief, the video was presented by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during the opening keynote of GTC 2019. The demo's real-time ray traced global illumination and reflections, HDR visuals, dynamic direct and indirect lighting effects, mimicked physical material light reflection properties, and volumetric lighting effects were met with rapturous applause by GTC attendees.

• NVIDIA To Transform Quake II RTX Demo Into An Open Source Retro Gaming Classic

  Applause broke out from the crowd at GTC 2019 when NVIDIA showcased a modded version of Quake II with overhauled graphics featuring real-time ray tracing and HDR visuals. Quake II RTX, as it is called, looks almost like a completely different game than the original version that launched over two decades ago. It was an impressive demo for sure, but NVIDIA has bigger plans for the mod.

  "Our goal is to publish an open source version of Quake II RTX," Principal DevTech Engineer and Quake II RTX's lead programmer, Alexey Panteleev, told AusGamers in an interview.

• NVIDIA To Release Open Source Version Of The Quake II RTX Demo In The Future

  Last month, during GDC 2019, NVIDIA showed an impressive Quake II RTX demo, which showed how ray tracing can improve even old games, and it seems like players will soon be able to experience it for themselves.

  Speaking with Aus Gamers, Alexey Panteleev, the lead programmer of the Quake II RTX demo, confirmed that an open source version of it will be released in the future.

• The Cybersecurity Weakest Link – Linux and IOT

  Linux is not only the backbone of the internet and the Android operating system, it is now expanding into domestic appliances, motor vehicles and pretty much anything else that requires a minimal operating system to run dedicated software. The Internet of Things is very much The Internet of Things Powered by Linux.

  But when Chrysler announced a recall of 1.4 million vehicles back in 2016 after a pair of hackers demonstrated a remote hijack of a Jeep’s digital systems, the risks involved with hacking IoT devices were dramatically illustrated.

  So what does the rise of Linux and IoT mean for Cybersecurity in the Enterprise? Let’s take a look.

• Microsoft buys Express Logic, adds a third operating system to its IoT range [Ed: Microsoft Peter on Microsoft swallowing another Linux company because Windows is unfit for purpose]

  Not content with having a Windows-based Internet of Things platform (Windows 10 IoT) and a Linux-based Internet of Things platform (Azure Sphere), Microsoft has added a third option. The company has announced that it has bought Express Logic and its ThreadX real-time operating system for an undisclosed sum.

  [...]

  Linux can be built with various options to offer more predictable behavior and so can address some similar scenarios. But ThreadX has another big advantage up its sleeve: it's tiny. A minimal ThreadX installation takes 2,000 bytes of storage and needs 1KB of RAM, far less than Linux can use. By way of comparison, Microsoft's Sphere hardware (which uses a custom-designed ARM processor with various security features embedded) has 4MB of RAM for applications and 16MB of storage. There are an estimated 6.2 billion deployments of ThreadX running on several dozen different kinds of processor or microcontroller.

• World’s first AMD-based NUC mini-PC showcases Ryzen R1000

  ASRock Linux-ready “iBox-R1000” industrial PC and “NUC-R1000” mainboard provide the new AMD Ryzen Embedded R1000 SoC in a 4×4 NUC form-factor with up to 32GB DDR4, 2x GbE, 3x USB 3.1, triple 4K displays, and 2x M.2 slots.

  In a renewed rivalry with Intel reignited by the success of its Ryzen line of processors, AMD has started to get a bit cheeky with its larger rival. Its latest provocation is the launch (via partner ASRock Industrial) of the first 4×4 (also called 4″x4″) NUC form-factor mini-PC based on an AMD processor. As noted in the Tom’s Hardware story that alerted us to the iBox-R1000 and the board-level NUC-R1000, the NUC label “isn’t technically accurate” since it’s an Intel brand that defines a certain class of mini-PC that uses Intel processors.

  [...]

  The ASRock product page notes only Windows 10, support, but the announcement also says it supports Linux kernel 4.18 and above.

• QNAP Linux Station Supports Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

  QNAP® Systems, Inc. today announced that Linux Station is fully integrated with Ubuntu® 18.04 LTS, allowing users to enjoy the brand-new GNOME GUI desktop with higher security and easily install apps (including LibreOffice 6.0, Inkscape, and multimedia applications) from the Software Center.

  Linux Station provides one-click installation of multiple versions of Ubuntu, and brings a streamlined NAS and Ubuntu PC experience when using an HDMI-equipped QNAP NAS with a keyboard and mouse. Linux Station also supports remote desktop connection with audio output. As QNAP is dedicated to leverage open-source software for a better user experience, Linux Station also adds support for Ubuntu Kylin - the official Chinese version of Ubuntu.

  “QNAP exclusively incorporates Ubuntu into NAS applications to give users multiple benefits from using QTS and Ubuntu applications,” said Judy Chen, Product Manager of QNAP, adding “The increasingly diverse applications in Linux Station allows users to freely utilize cross-platform, open-source software, such as multimedia applications and Inkscape.”

The Eclipse Foundation released the results from its latest IoT Developer Survey of 1,717 Eclipse developers, finding growing use of Linux (76 percent), Arm (70 percent), and MQTT (42 percent).

The results of the Eclipse Foundation’s 2019 IoT Developer Survey are out, this time with a larger 1,717-developer sample compared to only 502 in the 2018 survey. The survey was conducted by the Eclipse IoT Working Group in cooperation with member companies including Bosch Software Innovations, Eurotech, and Red Hat. The Eclipse Foundation’s various social media channels and websites promoted the survey, as did Eclipse IoT member companies.

The survey was not limited to embedded developers. Two out of three respondents said their organizations are either deploying Internet of Things solutions now or will do so in the next 18 months. Some projects appear to be longer-range than that considering that 80 percent of respondents said they are active in IoT work.

• Whiskey Lake shows up on a Linux-friendly industrial mini-PC

  ASRock has unveiled a fanless, Linux-ready “iBox-8265U” mini-PC with Intel’s latest Whiskey Lake CPUs, up to 32GB DDR4, a SATA bay, 2x GbE, 4x USB, triple displays, and extended temp support.

  ASRock Industrial Computer’s 171.8 x 150 x 71.5mm iBox-8265U is the first 8th Gen Whiskey Lake U-series based mini-PC we’ve seen. Several Whiskey Lake based SBCs have broken cover, however, including Aaeon’s UP Xtreme. The FanlessTech story that alerted us to the product calls it a barebone mini-PC, suggesting that the OS is optional. The product page says it supports Linux 4.6 and Windows 10.

• Intel Core based thin Mini-ITX supports extended temperatures

  Avalue’s Linux-friendly “EMX-KBLU2P” is a thin Mini-ITX board with 6th or 7th Gen Core CPUs, triple displays, 2x GbE, 2x SATA, 2x M.2, 4x USB 3.0, serial and GPIO interfaces, and -20 to 70°C support.

  Avalue announced a thin Mini-ITX board for signage, PoS, kiosk, AiO PCs, and industrial applications. Like the company’s EMX-SKLUP thin Mini-ITX board, the new EMX-KBLU2P supports Intel’s 6th Gen Skylake Core and Celeron processors, and it can also load 7th Gen Kaby Lake models. Windows 10 and Linux are on tap — the Kaby Lake configurations require higher than Linux kernel 4.7.